Optimal Performance Accessibility Experts recommends employees play Pulse to Learn about what it is like to be Blind

The consultants at Optimal Performance accessibility are always on the look out for innovative ways to teach employees what it is like to have specific disabilities. We reviewed this article by Marsha Lederman with the Globe and Mail who wrote about a student project with the Vancouver Film School. The 5 students unveiled a new game called Pulse where the main character is blind and navigates around the game in a darkened environment using sound to locate other objects, obstacles and figures.

One of the best ways to learn about the AODA and the ADA in the US and why having accessibility to the workplace, community and the economy is so critical for PWD (People with Disabilities) and for businesses as well. Having some employees who deal directly with customers and clients who may have disabilities of any sort play this game would be an excellent learning tool.

From the The Globe and Mail Metro (Ontario Edition) Saturday edition 2012

MARSHA LEDERMAN VANCOUVER

A glimpse into the world of the blind

In a leap past shoot’-em-up mindlessness, Pulse invites players to make their way through a reality in which they cannot see

I’m not sure if we had the idea of specifically a blind protagonist at the beginning. It was more: Oh, let’s use the idea of sound and echo-location to create some kind of interesting game mechanic. Game designer Maxwell Hannaman

For a grad project, it had an ambitious premise: a video game in which a blind girl goes on a quest through a creepy, darkened world, trying to find her brother who has disappeared.

Created by five students at Vancouver Film School, the game follows a 13-year-old blind girl on a quest to find her brother in a darkened universe.

Pulse is meant to give some insight into what it’s like to be blind – and also speaks to the ongoing evolution of gaming from a shoot-’em-up good time to a mind-opening experience with broad appeal. Unveiled last week at Vancouver Film School’s industry-attended Pitch & Play session to a whole lot of wowed reaction, the game was once reckoned too ambitious for a student project.